BRINGING HIS athletic prowess to the international stage, Marco Daos earned top 50 finishes in all his events in the 9th World Aquatics Junior Championships.  The competition featuring over 60 participating countries was held last September 4 to 9 in Netanya, Israel.

The Blue Eagle secured new personal bests in two events, first in the Men’s 200-meter Butterfly wherein he clocked in at 2:09.06 minutes which was enough for 31st place. The 18-year-old also impressively swam 53.20 seconds in the Men’s 100-meter Freestyle, ending in 48th place.

Despite not notching a new personal record, Daos still landed in 45th place in the 200-meter Freestyle event after timing in at 1:58.14 minutes.

Only a sophomore, the Manila-based tanker was the sole Atenean and homegrown Filipino among the five swimmers who qualified to represent the Philippines. Joining him were national junior record holders Micaela Mojdeh, Heather White, Gian Santos, and Alexander Eichler.

The team of Mojdeh, White, Santos, and Eichler impressively set a new national record for the Mixed 4×100-meter Freestyle Relay, timing in at 3:43.64 minutes and placing 13th out of 29 competing groups.

Pitted up against world class swimmers, not many expectations were set by the sophomore tanker.

“Honestly, coming into the competition, I just wanted to get my personal best times and break the current Philippine record,” said Daos.

After conquering the global arena, Daos bids to prompt an eighth straight University Athletic Association (UAAP) Men’s Swimming title for Ateneo.

“Me pushing myself to achieve that goal for that international competition hopefully pushed my teammates as well in their preparation for UAAP,” the swimming prodigy shared.

With his monumental performance, Daos qualified to compete in 2023 Asian Age Group Swimming Championship that will be held from December 3 to 12 in New Clark City Aquatic Center in Tarlac, Philippines.